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190 Appendix A

FINANCIAL AND PERFORMANCE RATIOS
(INDUSTRY AVERAGES)
• Almanac of Business and Industrial Financial Ratios—This
source contains tables of selected financial and operating
ratios for more than 160 industries. There are 22 financial
categories in 12 asset group sizes. Not all SIC codes are
included in this work, so you may have to find an SIC code
that is close to the one you are looking for. Annual State-
ment Studies and Industry Norms and Key Business Ratios
are similar print resources from other publishers. You can
find them in many university and public libraries.
• Corporation Tax Statistics (www.irs.ustreas.gov/prod/tax
_stats/soi/corp_id.html)—This free site contains links to
industry averages of information from corporate tax
returns filed with the U.S. Internal Revenue Service. Data
are drawn from corporate balance sheets, income state-
ments, and other sources. Much of the most current data
here are several years old.
• Standard and Poor’s Industry Surveys—This print source
is great for current descriptions of industries. Most indus-
tries are defined fairly broadly. Each description is around
30 pages long and includes some of the major current
trends, a list of the major companies, and selected perfor-
mance measures: financial statement information,
financial and performance ratios for selected companies
in the industry, and industry averages. This source also
includes a useful section titled “How to Analyze a Com-
pany in this Industry.” Another useful item is a short
list of additional sources of industry information. This
reference is available in many university and large public
libraries.